It looks tough but in reality it's not as tough as it looks. Haase is in abysmal form. Granted, he may raise his level once again, but there's no reason for Andy to not take him seriously this time. Though Andy is a slow starter and he might fall behind once again, but I'd still pick him to win in 4 if not 3.

No need to talk about the next 2 rounds. Simon is never a problem for Andy. Neither is Dolgo. Monfils has just seen a terrible loss to Ferrer and maybe overplaying it already. He's not in good shape or form either. I don't see him make it that far in fact. So it's going to be most likely Simon in the 4th round.

Both Delpo and Cilic are tough opponents but not real genuine threat to Andy. For a set and half, yes but it shouldn't go beyond that. Having said that, Delpo is probably most likely to make the qtr but Cilic, on the other hand, has done well here at the AO.

Now Federer may not even make the semi but if he does, he will have to beat Tomic, Raonic and Tsonga. Tomic, I don’t think, is a big problem for any of the top players at the moment, but he might be interested in putting up a good show for the Aussies. Raonic should stay relatively fresh. Tsonga is not in form lately plus he has some sort of injury going on. Still, by the time, Federer makes the semi; he should be tired unless he gets favorable schedules and keeps his matches short.

The final would be very tough however if Nole makes it too but that’s something we should not worry about right now. Though I must say the conditions are most likely to favour Andy than Nole should that happen. Andy will have to keep each of his matches as short as possible - something both Federer and Nole will be very keen on doing, so Andy will have to be very mindful of that as well. I can’t emphasize on this enough.

Where has this tough draw nonsense come from? Is it all based on one match 18 months ago?

Haase has won just twice in six months. One of those was against a guy outside the top 200.

Murray on the other hand has progressed significantly since 2011.

Unless Murray is playing particularly poor, he should have no problems whatsoever in the first two rounds. R3 and R4 opponents are obviously more dangerous but in all reality it should be a straightforward (and to be honest in Melbourne, it normally is quite straightforward) run to the Quarters.

Andy's biggest enemy will be the man himself. If he drags on unnecessarily and gets too comfortable at times, he’ll find himself in world of trouble. Andy should keep in mind that he’s the last GS winner and play accordingly. No mental lapses, no other nonsense - just utter and complete focus on the job in hand.

I was so curious about the draw that I had a quick view on it on MW this morning. After the first comment (by boogers) I wondered why I did not find it that tough. Now, after having had a closer look at the complete draw, I am happy to hear so many optimistic voices. Yes, could have been worse as some of you have stated (Andy avoids Berdych, Raonic). A first round match vs. Haase is not too bad, apart from the thriller at the USO 2011. But Andy often has such performances in GS where he really has to dig deep. I watched some matches at Doha and the commentator said it will certainly not be a pleasure to draw Davidenko in this form in an early round. It may be Fed's turn to face him in R2. Good luck to Nicolai!

And so it begins.......well, almost.I've got to say, I'm delighted with the draw. The biggest bonus is that Andy and Djokovic have been drawn apart. You've got to be ready to beat anyone to win a GS, but we don't want Andy to knock himself out in a 5 set slug-fest semi ( as recent AM/ND matches have been) before facing a potentially fresher opponent in the final ( although Djokovic managed it last year !). There are other reasons to be cheerful :

Haase is a good 1st round draw as Andy knows the problems he gave him before, so he should be prepared mentally from the off.

Rounds 2,3 & 4 might throw up some 'loseable' ties, but if our man is in any kind of decent form, he should prevail against any likely opponents.

A QF against Del Potro is intriguing. They haven't met for over 3 years, and the H2H is already in Andy's favour. Given Andy's considerable improvement in that time, he would start favourite, although any GS winning opponent must be respected.

A SF against Fed will always, of course, be difficult, but the H2H and Andy's sublime performance at the Olympic final should, I think, make Andy favourite. I also wonder if the margin between the players that day was a sign of the old guy's legs starting to go (coming right after Wimbledon). It will be interesting watching Fed at the AO (and the rest of the year) with this in mind. Although we've been writing Fed off for ages now but he's still a huge threat.

The final against Djokovic ! Well, it is what it is. We know Andy can do it, Novak knows Andy can do it and, most important, Andy knows Andy can do it ! You can toss a coin - let's just hope he gets there.

At the end of the day we all know a lot can happen in tennis in 1 week let alone 2. I am with Andy let's worry about the 2nd week if and when we get there. I am sure he can beat Hasse and when he does we can see whose next. Hopefully someone else will deal with smug face in the mean time.

At the end of the day we all know a lot can happen in tennis in 1 week let alone 2. I am with Andy let's worry about the 2nd week if and when we get there. I am sure he can beat Hasse and when he does we can see whose next. Hopefully someone else will deal with smug face in the mean time.

You're right Tessie, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. ( although I'm sure Andy isn't) Yep, one match at a time.

Talking about getting ahead of ourselves, I see Pat Cash thinks Andy will definitely win a slam this year - possibly this one.

Don't know about you guys, but when all the former champs used to confidently predict that Andy would definitely win a slam one day, I always felt like saying 'SHUT UP ! you'll jinx it. ' At least they turned out to be right.